Despite attacks from their colleagues, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her peers are part of a proud tradition of influential legislators who moved their party left.
For a moment in 1987, it felt like the trailblazing Colorado representative, who died this week, could become the first female president of the United States.
Black History: Timeline of the Post-Civil Rights Era
Author:
Jesse Jackson hugging Shirley Chisholm in 1984. Credit: Jacques M. Chenet/Corbis/Getty Images
From the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the 2008 election of Barack Obama, to widespread global protests declaring Black Lives Matter in 2020, African American history in the United States has been filled with both triumph and strife.
Here s a look at some of the notable milestones that took place from the end of the civil rights movement to today.
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
April 4, 1968: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot and killed at the age of 38 while standing on the balcony of his Lorraine Motel room in Memphis, Tenn. James Earl Ray was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to a 99-year prison term. President Lyndon B. Johnson designates April 7 as a national day of mourning.